


West Coast Smoker

by EnterintotheBandom



Category: Fall Out Boy, Green Day, I Don't Know How But They Found Me (Band), Imagine Dragons (Band), My Chemical Romance, Panic! at the Disco, Paramore
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Astral Projection, Brainwashing, Detectives, Fall Out Boy is a Thing, Foster home, I mean they're a band, Illusions, Invisibility, Joe is a Motorcycle Boyfriend, Just not Fall Out Boy, Kidnapping, M/M, Mind Control, Motorcycle Chase, Non-Canon Age Gap, Past Torture, Rebellion, Rebels, Superpowers, Telekinesis, Telepathy, Zack Owns a Foster Home, corrupt government, flight, pyrokinesis, sorta - Freeform, super speed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-07
Updated: 2018-05-13
Packaged: 2019-04-19 12:47:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14237616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EnterintotheBandom/pseuds/EnterintotheBandom
Summary: Gerard and Mikey Way are detectives who specialize in catching rebels against the government of New Chicago. After the great war destroyed most governments of the world, states and cities of the old US became their own governments, and that of New Chicago is claimed to be corrupted. Another strange effect from the war was that nearly 90% of people ended up with some kind of superpower.Their biggest case at the moment is that of The Phoenix. A rebel with multiple powers and little visible defining traits, and they are the biggest threat to the government, but the Ways are going to help bring him in. That is, unless the rebellion has other plans for them.





	1. Change You, Like a Remix

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Ways and their Secretary try to figure out who the Phoenix is based on the pictures and video they have

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was an attempt at a new story, let me know if I should continue it!

It was currently 2:32. The Ways, along with their secretary, Frank, were at a cafe. Mikey had a laptop, and was going over notes. Frank was doing something on his phone, while Gerard was talking to one of the waiters. His name tag said Patrick.

“I heard about you guys catching those thieves down in Fuck City huh?” Patrick said. Fuck City was slang for one of the lower life areas of New Chicago which was actually called the Fredrickson District, after the man who decided to start building the buildings the way they were built there. Gerard would hear some people who came from the slums or areas around it call it that, so that was his clue that Patrick had come from one of those areas, if not the Fredrickson District itself.

“The Fredrickson District? Yeah, we caught them. Just a bunch of teenagers, can’t exactly arrest that so they have to wear the collars for a week.” Gerard said. Lucas Fredrickson was a good man to the people among the districts he and Mikey grew up in, and it was disrespectful to call his District Fuck City. The Collars were power canceling, which left the teens without their powers, which in hope would make them learn their lesson.

“Collars for a week seems harsh, but reasonable with what they did.” Patrick said. He obviously had a different opinion on the whole collar thing.

“Well they were using their powers to do the thefts. Their leader controlled people’s minds, one of the girls had telekinesis, the others had good abilities for stealing, so collars will hopefully stop them from using their abilities for a bad cause like they were…” Mikey said, not looking up from his computer.

“Mhm.” Patrick said before walking back over to the counter to get something to deliver to a table.

“Guess he doesn’t like the collars.” Frank said, not looking up.

“I don’t see the big problem.” Gerard said.

“Guess he doesn’t like the thought of the ability he has getting forcibly taken from him for awhile.” Mikey said.

“Still, it’s only if they are misusing them.”

“Hey, someone got another good picture of the Phoenix.” Frank said before showing Gerard.

There was what they had been hunting. A man, likely in his early 20s, dark orange hoodie, bird mask painted to look like a Phoenix, hence the name, dark jeans, black shoes. He was mid run through an alley lit by moonlight, and it looked like the cops were trying to climb over the fence behind him to go after him. There were no good features shown in the picture.

“Well, that gives us a good look at his little get up, but nothing on who exactly he is.” Gerard says. “The police station has a few more pictures I need to pick up.”

“I can use the sorrowings to get a good idea of how tall he it, the picture was taken pretty close to where I live.” Frank said.

“I’ll come with when you do that.” Mikey said.

Patrick came back over with what they ordered, and was thanked. He then disappeared back into an employee’s only door.

“Alright, we should get that done as soon as possible.” Gerard said. Mikey and Frank nodded.

They finished their drinks after a while. Frank and Mikey went off to investigate the area where the picture was taken. Gerard noticed Patrick on a bench and walked over to see what he was doing.

“Hey Patrick.” Gerard said.

“Oh, hi.” Patrick said, looking over at him.

“What are you doing?” Gerard asked.

“Oh, I’m just waiting for my boyfriend to pick me up. I don’t have a car.” Patrick said.

“Oh alright.” Gerard said. “You said Fuck City instead of the Fredrickson District, you grow up there?”

“Not forsay, I lived like a block away in the Kinder District, but I knew a lot of people from there, picked it up.” Patrick said.

“Ah, I’ve never been down there. Is it as bad as everyone says it is?” Gerard asked.

Patrick turned around and looked at Gerard with a cold look.

“It’s even worse. I have a friend who had the words tattooed on his knuckles against his will when he was 11. He keeps it as a way of saying to people it is worse then it sounds. Wouldn’t expect people from the higher districts to understand that.” Patrick’s cold words reminded Gerard that they grew up in very different worlds. Just then a man on a motorcycle drove up to them.

“Patrick!” He yelled over to them.

“Coming Joe!” Patrick said before grabbing his bag, running over to the motorcycle and getting on, putting on a helmet he had (somehow) fit in his bag, and they drove off.

Gerard sort of thought about what Patrick said before walking in the direction of the station. There he picked up the pictures and a video which had been taken from a previous attack which left a few bodyguards and the representative of the Hallow District dead. After a quick chat with the commissioner, he headed back to their building, as theirs were separated for work reasons, as both Mikey and Gerard worked their best with as little people in the building as possible, as that was how their abilities worked. Frank kept the police in the loop about how their work was going. 

Gerard had to wait a few minutes at the building before Mikey and Frank returned.

“We didn’t get enough, the positioning was impossible to recreate so we couldn’t get the height.” Frank said.

“Oh, well I got some video from the police of that night. It may have been 4 days, but it may help us.” Gerard said. “So you know the drill.”

Mikey nodded.

“I’ll be at my desk if you need me.” Frank said before running over to his desk. The room they did business in was small as the rest was of the building was a huge room where Gerard and Mikey would work with their abilities.

The brothers walked into the next room, which was basically just the storage part of a warehouse. They walked to the center of the room.

“Video, we rarely get to work with that.” Mikey said as Gerard held the tablet up for Mikey to watch. He watched the whole thing, which was about ten minutes, before lifting one hand and everything around them changed into the alley where the video was taken. Mikey’s ability, recreation of events as it said in his record, was a rarer one, a level orange ability. 

Abilities were split into 5 categories. Green, which were common abilities, Yellow, which were uncommon abilities, and Orange, which were rare. Those three were inherited from their parents. Blue and Red abilities were ones that developed rather than were inherited. Blue were usually harmless abilities. Red abilities however were very harmful and dangerous. 

Gerard had a similar level orange ability. He could manipulate reality in ways that helped him and didn’t cause destruction or harm. He used these to get to higher places, investigate things in Mikey’s recreation, and help him out when he was feeling lazy.

The recreation was paused at the beginning of the video, which was taken from a security camera nearby. The Phoenix was hidden in the alley as the target talked with a teenager. His guards were off to the side.

As it started, the teen pointed down the alley. There being no sound to recreate, the event was silent. The event played out as it did in the video. The target entered the alley only to be attacked by the Phoenix and killed due to a huge soundwave that came from the Phoenix. Sonic Voice, an Orange level ability. One of the three the Phoenix seemed to have. The guards ran it and the Phoenix fought them using fire. A level Red ability. The fact it was so rare would make it easy to find the person, but the other two abilities is what had everyone stumped on who it could be.

“Stop, here.” Gerard said. This was when suddenly everything in the alley, including the guards and the Phoenix started floating. This would turn the battle in the Phoenix’s favor, and he would kill a few of the guards then escape using flight before everything stopped floating. The thing was, this ability which made everything float could not be the Phoenix’s own doing, as they had never used it before, meaning there was likely an acompless. 

Gerard used his ability to let him see through everything to see where the acompless might be. 

“There.” Gerard said, pointing to the fence which split the alleyway. Mikey and Gerard walked over to it, and since everything wasn’t real, they could pass through it to see what was on the other side. As Gerard had seen, there were two girls, one was floating and holding onto the other, who was standing on the ground.

“She’s the one who altered the gravity.” Gerard said before looking to see her face. “And how am I not surprised.”

 

“What about her?” Mikey asked.

“It’s the two girls from the thief group we busted.” Gerard said before thinking. “Take us back to the beginning, we need to look at the teenager that he talked to.”

They went back to the start and to whom the target had been talking to.

“And know we know that group of thieves were involved in this.” Gerard said. The boy talking to the target was their leader, likely using mind control to send him into the alley.

“I’ll get their files.” Mikey said before the event melted around them and they were back in the room.

____________________________________________________________

“Seven teenagers, ranging in age from 14 to 19.” Gerard said to Frank as they walked through the Fredrickson District. “All live in the Cloud Foster Home, all were orphaned at a young age during the Fredrickson riots. We just need the ring leader and the girls, no idea if the others are involved.”

“The Cloud Foster Home, strange name.” Frank said.

“It’s somehow named after the owner.” Mikey said as he glanced around. They had been getting dirty looks since they came in.

“Most of these people have collars..” Frank muttered to Gerard as they turned the corner.

“This place is full of thieves and people who don’t use their powers right, of course they are.” Gerard said.

“Here we are.” Mikey said, pointing at the foster home.

They walked up to the door and knocked. The door was eventually opened by a teenaged boy with blond hair wearing a dragon shirt.

“Hello?” The boy said.

“Uh, hi, we’re looking f-” Mikey started before the door was opened more by another man, the owner of the home.

“Can I help you?” He asked as he shooed the teenager away from the door.

“You must be Mr. Hall. We’re from the police in the Brooks District.” Mikey said.

“Are you here to collar more of my kids? Cause I will assure you, none of the kids have acted up in the slightest since you coll-”

“No, we aren’t here to do that, we need to talk with them, the ones who were collared.” Gerard said. “The little ring leader and the two girls.”

Mr Hall seemed to roll his eyes before letting them in.

“I will go get them, you stay on the couches in this room.” Mr Hall said before disappearing down the hallway. The group sat on the couch and waited. A few minutes later, the three kids came out. Hall stood right behind the couch probably to make sure Mikey, Frank and Gerard didn’t do anything he didn’t like.

The kids all stood in front of them. Frank looked each of them up and down.

“What do you want this time?” The boy who seemed to be their leader asked.

“We believe you have connections with a big problem in our higher districts, and we want you all to tell us exactly what your connection with them is.” Gerard said.

“Wha-” One of the girls started before being cut off.

“Not now.” The leader said before looking back at them. “Why would you think we would have a connection with them?”

“In the video of the most recent attack, someone manipulated the gravity and helped the Phoenix escape. She happens to be the only gravity manipulator who so far doesn’t have an alibi. You were also seen leaving the crime scene by pedestrians, so start talking Mr Urie.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was anyone surprised it was Brendon? No? Didn't think so.


	2. Black Tar Palms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gerard, Mikey and Frank find out about a club which Urie and Co. meet with the messenger of the Phoenix

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first of many character dumps. This one is small but it continues the story either way

“He payed us to help. If you haven’t noticed, we aren’t exactly living very good here in Fuck City. We need as much as we can get.” Brendon said as he and the girls sat down across from them.

“You have any names?” Mikey asked.

“Even if we did, we wouldn’t tell you.” One of the girls said. Sarah was her name. The other was Nicole.

“All we know is there’s this one guy who we meet up with at the Devotee-”

“Devotee?”

“The LA Devotee, it’s a club, live music, food and drinks. It’s the best thing about this side of town.” Nicole says. “Even if it’s technically in The Kinder District.”

“So this messenger, what do they look like?” Gerard asked.

“It’s a different guy each time.” Brendon says. “Maybe if you want to find them you should go to the Devotee.”

“You’ll be coming with.” Mikey said, crossing his arms.

“Only with their consent.” Hall’s voice boomed from behind them.

“We’ll go, Zack, but we get these collars off when you find them.” Nicole says and the other nod. “All of us.”

“Deal.” Gerard said after looking at the others.

“Alright, it’ll be a few hours until the messenger would come, if they’ll be there tonight.” Brendon said. “But the bands that play are good.” 

“Let’s get going.” Frank said and stood up.

____________________________________________________________

The club was colorful, that’s pretty much all Frank could say about it. There was a band playing some song he’d never heard before. “So you can get, get addicted to this, you can get, get addicted to this, now…”

Gerard and Mikey found a booth and sat down. Nicole sat with them while Brendon and Sarah ordered food. Frank just wandered around, trying to look for something out of the ordinary. Eventually he found a poster for the WPCCM, Wentz Power Cancelling Collar Manufacturers, the ones who made the power canceling collars. It was covered in darts, most of them in the face of Peter Wentz II, the owner of the company. He was pretty hated around these parts. Frank sort of felt bad for his kids, as they were hated by association. Frank sighed a little then looked to the stage.

‘We sold our souls in dark hotel rooms, we slip tongues and lie like "I will see you soon"'s..’

The band were wearing costumes, including masks. They likely felt better about keeping their identities secret, keep the fame off of them.

‘Two explorers in the dark, making maps and drawing shots..’

Frank walked over to the Ways. 

“I didn’t see anything.” Frank said.

‘Put the world on notice, I'm ruined and I know it, we threw the game from the start.’

“Nicole said this band’s usually playing on nights they meet up with the messenger.” Gerard said.

‘I'm desperate and devoted, the secret no one told us, My songs know what you did in the dark.’

“Bunch of twenty something punks in dumb colorful outfits, other than the emo one. See why people here like them.” Mikey said.

“Hey! America’s Suitehearts are the best around! I’m sorry they aren’t top notch by your higher district standards.” Brendon said as he and Sarah returned with food. They had only got food for themselves and Nicole. Mikey rolled his eyes at Brendon.

‘We sold our souls in dark hotel rooms, We slip tongues and lie like "I will see you soon"'s.’

Brendon started messing with the collar he was wearing. 

“These things are a pain to wear..” Brendon muttered.

“That’s the point.” Gerard said.

‘Two explorers in the dark, making maps and drawing shots..’

“Like I didn’t fucking know that!” Brendon said and started pouting, only to stop to shove chips into his mouth.

“So, are there any defining features on your guys, like shirts or something?” Mikey asked.

“Nope.” Sarah said as she looked at the band.

‘Put the world on notice, I'm ruined and I know it, we threw the game from the start.’

“They come up to us, say ‘Crosswalks, Crossed Hearts, Hope to die’, we reply with our code word, and then we get the rundown of what’s about to happen.” Brendon said.

‘I'm desperate and devoted, the secret no one told us, My songs know what you did in the dark.’

 

“What’s the reply word?” Gerard asked, giving them a look that told them they had no choice to say no.

“It’s ‘Seal the clouds with grey lining’.” Brendon said after the group exchanged questioning looks. 

‘Woah, My songs know what you did in the dark, Woah.”

Nothing happened regarding why they where there for the rest of the repeated ‘My songs know what you did in the dark’. The band waved once they finished the song and left the stage to disappear into the back room.

“Real hatred for the Wentz family down here huh.” Frank said.

“They’re the reason everyone here and around Fuck City is collared, because they made it. If it were up to the police from the Hollow district, level reds like Nicole would be collared permanently, that’s why the Phoenix went after him.” Sarah said, crossing her arms.

“Oh we’re so dangerous and bullshit like that.” Nicole said with malice in her voice. “You people just don’t bother trying to figure out why we and the blues develop these powers.”

“We don-” Mikey started

“Bullshit, if you have the money to pay Wentz for all his stupid collars you can pay to find out why we devenope these abilities and how to help us control them.” Nicole said and her collar’s little light flashed, signifying the attempted use of abilities, likely from Nicole’s anger. Brendon, quickly trying to stop her from doing anything she’d regret, stood up.

“Hey! Andy!” Brendon said, waving to a man who had just walked in. Gerard and Mikey looked at the man, he was a shorter man with shoulder length brown hair, glasses and visible tattoos, as he was wearing a tee shirt. He waved back and came over to the table.

“Hey guys!” Andy said. “Who are these?” 

“Bunch of cops from Brooks.” Sarah said. “The ones who collared us. They want info on The Phoenix.”

“Oh. Well then, nice to meet you.” Andy said smiling at them.

“I’m Gerard, this is Mikey and Frank.” Gerard said, a bit annoyed that Sarah didn’t actually say their names. Andy nodded to that, glancing at Brendon, exchanging some look that none of them recognized. 

Frank looked at Andy’s hands, just to get a mental note of his tattoos. He had full sleeves, but barely anything on his hands, but the words Fuck City badly written across his knuckles was what Frank made a note of. They seemed like something he’d need to remember.

Andy and the teens had a long conversation about random topics before another man came in, yelled for Andy, and Andy left with the person. The rest of the night brought nothing, and they ended up taking the teens back to Cloud Foster Home, then returning to the Brooks District.

It wasn’t until they walked through the doors of their building that Gerard suddenly facepalmed and yelled

“Fuck me!”

“What?” Mikey asked.

“Andy was the messenger!” Gerard said, hitting his face again. “Why else would he come in, and straight to them, and they say specifically that we are ‘cops from Brooks’? They didn’t want him to reveal who he was, and know they had the collars so they couldn’t work with the Phoenix!”

Both Mikey and Frank took a second before realizing that.

“That means they lied about not knowing the messengers, and possibly lied about there being more than one, to throw us off the trail the actual messenger!” Mikey said.

“But the problem is, Andy is literally the most common name of people from the Fredrickson district.” Frank said. “That would mean we’d have to go through at least three hundred files, and I’m not sure Ray would let us go through the database on that big of a witch hunt.”

“How do we know he’s from the Fredrickson District?” Gerard asked.

“He had Fuck City tattooed across his knuckles.” Frank said. “Really badly too, terrible tattoo job, he was probably struggling when it was given to him.”

That reminded Gerard of what Patrick had said to him. ‘I have a friend who had the words tattooed on his knuckles against his will when he was 11’

“I think I know someone who knows him.” Gerard said.

____________________________________________________________

Gerard went to the coffee shop that next morning. Patrick had been at the register, and the place was completely empty.

“You’re usual?” Patrick asked when Gerard came to the counter.

“No, actually I need some information, on your friend with the Fuck City tattoo.”

“Andy? Why?” Patrick asked. “Has he done something?”

“We think he’s involved with the Phoenix, we need his full name and where he lives.” 

Patrick almost seemed to turn white when Gerard said that. Gerard assumed it was because Patrick would never expect Andy to be involved in something like that, but how he’d think someone from the Fredrickson District wouldn’t be involved in rebellious actions was beyond Gerard.

“Oh, o-of course. His name is Andy Hurley and he lives in room 631 in the Baptiste apartment building in the Kinder District..” Patrick said, seeming to be shaken up by all of this.

“Thank you.” Gerard said before walking out. As soon as he was out of the shop, his phone went off with a text from Mikey. It was a picture of an artist depiction of someone’s hands with a message under it.

“One of the guards who survived the most recent attack gave a description of the hands of The Phoenix, this wouldn’t help usually, but Frank says the tattoos match our Andy fellow, you get his name? We’re going to put an arrest warrant on him.”

“Yeah, Patrick was very cooperative. His name is Andy Hurley and he lives in room 631 in the Baptiste apartment building in the Kinder District.”

“Alright, I’ll get Ray to bring over his file after we get the warrant on him.”

____________________________________________________________

Ray set the file down on the table.

“We have officers going to his place to arrest him, but with what your saying about him possibly being the Phoenix, there’s a problem with that.” Ray said. Frank opened the file and started reading through it. 

“What’s the problem?” Gerard asked.

“He’s powerless. Abilities: None.” Frank read out.

“So our one lead can’t be him, because he has no abilities…” Gerard said.

“There’s still a chance he knows the Phoenix. The tattoo he has was tattooed onto seventy three children during the Fredrickson Riots, forty five of them boys, narrowing our search. We look for ones with one of the three abilities that the Phoenix has, and we bring those ones in for questioning.” Ray said.

“Do flight and sonic scream, there are only 5 residents of this city with fire. Three of them are women and the two men, Isaac Marter and Joseph Trohman are from the Hallow District and the Kinder District, so shouldn’t have been involved in the riots.” Frank said after putting Andy’s file down.

“I’ll get someone on that.” Ray said, before his phone buzzed, and he looked at it. “Seems we’ve got him already. Gerard, you come with me so we can question him.”

Gerard nodded and followed Ray out.

“Mikey, his file says Andy’s residence is in the Jules apartment in the Fredrickson District, not the Baptiste.” Frank said.

“Do you think this means Patrick lied?”

“Possible, the room numbers don’t match up, hell now that I think about it there isn’t a room 631, that would mean there was a 6th floor..” Frank said.

“We need to tell Ray, this could mean Patrick’s involved as well.”

____________________________________________________________

Ray walked Gerard to the cell they currently had Andy in. Andy was sitting on the bed with his arms crossed. 

“Here he is.” Ray said.

“So you’re the one who told them I was involved with the Phoenix, shouldn't be surprised.” Andy said.

“Mr Hurley, we aren’t here for you to point fingers, we want everything you know about the Phoenix.” Ray said.

“I told your friend this, and I’ll tell you both now. I know nothing about the Phoenix or anyone involved with him. I only talked to Brendon, Sarah and Nicole because I know them.”

Ray kept asking questions to Andy while Gerard looked down the hall. He saw a group of people from the WPCCM. They were speaking with the chief. Gerard regnonized one of them as Peter Wentz III. He was the eldest of Wentz’s children, already at the age to begin working for his father.

“Come on, we need to get the files on the others with the tattoos, we aren’t getting anything from him.” Ray said. Gerard nodded and followed him to the file room.

They used the computer to get all the names, and both began looking for their files.

“It seems like the whole of the Fredrickson District is trying to start a rebellion against the rest of Chicago.” Gerard said. “I was surprised that the guy we got Hurley’s name from acted like he would never do something to rebel if it was for his life.” 

“What?” Ray asked.

“He seemed started by me telling him that Andy might be involved, he turned white when I said it.” 

“Gerard, that sounds more like someone who’s been caught, what address did he give you?” Ray asked. Gerard told it to him.

“The Baptiste doesn’t have a 6th floor.” Ray said after thinking. Gerard took a second.

“That lying bitch!” Gerard said.

“He was trying to throw us off.” Ray said, putting down the file. “Who did you get the address from.”

“A waiter at the coffee shop near the station, Patrick.” Gerard said, walking over to the computer and typing some things in. 

“Patrick Stump.” Ray said as Gerard pulled up his profile. “Kinder District kids always seem to get pulled into these things.”

The door suddenly opened and Mikey and Frank came in.

“Patrick lied to us.” Mikey said.

“We figured that out.” Gerard said.

“We need to bring him in, he might know more than Andy’s willing to say.” Ray said, before suddenly they heard a loud crash from outside the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BOOm
> 
> First lyrics were to Pavlove and the second were to My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (demo)


	3. You Could Have Knocked Me Out With a...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andy broke out of jail and 3/4ths of Imagine Dragons actually do shit!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This kinda just introduces Imagine Dragons and the rest of Panic!

The four had no time to know what exactly had happened, but when they ran out, six officers were out cold, another 2 were dead, the WPCCM members were out cold or cowering behind something, the fucking Phoenix was standing right next to Andy’s cell with Andy and Peter behind them. Peter had been grabbed by Andy and was struggling, and there was a huge hole in the wall.

And it was only 5 seconds before the three were back out that hole. The 4 went running after them. They didn’t see them at first, until they saw they were driving away on two motorcycles with a fourth person.

“Mikey, Gerard, we got the police bikes, come on.” Ray says.

“I’ll keep up with them.” Frank said and ran after them. Frank could run fast enough to keep up, but not so fast he could pass them.

Frank ran after them for at least a minute before Ray and Mikey caught up, Gerard being on the back of Mikey’s motorcycle. 

They were now speeding through the Brooks District after the Phoenix, Andy, the unknown accomplice, and Peter Wentz III who had been kidnapped by them. The reason was likely simple, kidnap the eldest child of Peter Wentz II, and use him to bargain something. 

“I’ll go after the one with Peter.” Frank yelled to Ray. Ray nodded to say go for it. 

Frank started running faster towards the motorcycle with The Phoenix and Peter on it. He managed to get chose and made and attempt to grab Peter, with Gerard holding his hand out to make sure when he got Peter that they didn’t fall or Frank drop Peter at at least 80 mph. Frank was suddenly launched back by a sonic scream, which the rest of the gang assumed came from the Phoenix. Gerard managed to catch him and get him on Ray’s motorcycle using his ability. Frank just latched onto Ray to keep from falling again, as he was shaken up.

“Use some of that to stop them!!” Ray yelled at Gerard.

“I can’t! I can not cause damage like that! Catching Frank took a lot of energy to do as well!!” Gerard yelled back. Ray could see that Gerard had less energy then before. 

As they zipped through the streets, Ray was thankful it was night and they didn’t have to deal with traffic. 

They just then passed into the Kinder District, and the Phoenix’s group turned into the warehouses, so the group followed.

“They’re going for the open one!” Mikey yelled, pointing at the open one. The Phoenix’s group were a good 70 feet away, so they would make it first, which they did. And it was almost instantly that the doors slammed shut, causing Ray and Mikey to stopped the bikes, which nearly threw the group off of them. 

“God damn!” Ray said as they all got off of there and ran to the smaller secondary door to get in.

Inside, they found the warehouse was full of shipping containers, and the motorcycles and the people on them were nowhere in sight. As they began walking through, Gerard stepped on something. He looked at it, using the flashlight he kept on his person, to see it was a power canceling collar. He then heard a voice from behind him. A sing songy voice which he regnonized instantly.

“You can’t see me.”

“Urie!!” Gerard yelled and turned around, but of course, the control had taken hold and he couldn’t see Brendon as he ran off laughing.

“How did he get the collar off?! I thought they needed either the key or the access code, and only WPCCM members know the access code!” Mikey said.

“Oh you’ll find out.” Another voice said. The group looked up on top of one of the containers to see two of the other boys from Brendon’s little group. Gerard could name them both. Jon Walker, the wall climber, to the left and Spencer Smith, the teleporter, to the right. 

“Lets see if you all can find them.” Spencer, who had said the first part, said. Spencer then disappeared and Jon ran off.

“We got to be careful, they have a telepath and an emotional manipulator as well as the mind control and gravity manipulation.” Mikey said. “Let’s just find the Phoenix and get out.” 

The group split, Mikey and Frank in one group and Gerard and Ray in the other. They ran down two different ways to try and find them.

Gerard and Ray ran down the opening closest to the container that Jon and Spencer had been on. They had lost sight of Jon, and could hear Brendon and someone else laughing from somewhere else.

They eventually came across a young boy hiding next to one of the storage containers. Ray went up to him to check on him, asking if he was okay. The boy nodded and stood up, looking terrified. Gerard looked the kid up and down and realized, the shirt he was wearing, the dragon shirt, it was the same one...

“Ray..”

“Wait, what is your name?” Ray asked the boy.

“Dan..” 

“Ray, he’s from the foster home.” Gerard said. 

Ray looked back at Gerard and the kid’s expression changed from fear to smirking, before suddenly, the storage containers all began to move to block their way, as the boy backed up and a container quickly blocked the way he went.

“Damn it!! He blocked us in!” Gerard yelled as he looked for an exit.

“Let’s wait, maybe Frank and Mikey will come for us..” Ray said, sitting in the middle of the small area they were reduced to.

Gerard started pacing while cursing under his breath. He was too tired to attempt to use his powers, and there was a possibility he’d pass out from even trying.

Ray stood up after a few minutes.

“It’s not real.” Ray said, walking to one of the containers.

“What?” Gerard asked.

“It’s a level yellow ability.” Ray said before walking through the container. He then stuck his head back in to look at Gerard, smirking. “Illusions.”

____________________________________________________________

“Stupid fucking Urie kid and his stupid ass mind control..” Frank muttered as they looked around. “Not nearly as good as Ray and his invisibility but uses stupid ass mind control to make his stupid ass invisible..”

“Will you shut up?!” Mikey snapped at Frank.

Frank rolled his eyes and looked around, just in time to watch a blur go past, one of someone with superspeed.

“There!” Frank yelled and started running after the blur. Because Frank forgot he ran a lot faster than Mikey, Mikey lost Frank to the maze.

“Damn it Frank!!” Mikey yelled as he started running the way he saw Frank go, before something caught his eye. One of the containers had light coming from it. Mikey slowly walked towards it and glanced in, putting his hand on the taser that Ray had given to him. 

“Go inside.” He heard Brendon’s voice which caused the hairs on his neck to stand on end, but he had to obey that whispery sing songy voice.

Mikey walked in and was met by three boys. Mikey knew who they were. Ryan Ross, Telepath, one of Brendon’s goons. Ian Crawford, emotional manipulator, another one of Brendon’s goons. Ben McKee, Force Fields, one of the kids from Cloud. 

“Go to them, they want to show you something.” 

Mikey walked up to Ryan, who was around his height. Ryan looked expressionlessly at him, before putting his hand on his forehead. He felt another hand on the back of his neck.

“You’ll understand our cause.” Ryan said before everything went black for Mikey.

____________________________________________________________

Gerard and Ray found three of the kids standing on top of a container looking like they had been waiting for them. Dan, Spencer, and Sarah.

“There you people are.” Sarah said.

“You think you all can escape? We know who you are and can just go over to Cloud and pick you all up!” Ray yelled.

“Well it’s a good thing we aren’t going there.” Dan said. Suddenly a kid appeared next to him, followed by Frank running over to Ray and Gerard, probably chasing the other kid.

“And it’s a good thing we’re the only ones here.” That kid said, before Sarah and Spencer both vanished. “Just Daniel and I, and Brendon, and he’s got your little brother.” 

Dan and Ben were both gone before Gerard could react to attack them. 

“Where the hell is Mikey?!” Gerard asked angrily.

“I lost him when I was chasing that kid.” Frank said.

“Frank you idiot!” Gerard yelled before running off. The three searched the whole place, but they only found Mikey’s jacket, which his identification, inside one of the storage boxes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And Mikey is MISSING


	4. S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gerard, Ray and Frank work to figure out what happened to Mikey, while Mikey finds out just what happened to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More Zack in this chapter!

The next day, the first thing they did was go down to Cloud to go after Dan, Daniel and Brendon. Zack opened the door this time, and he seemed to be expecting them.

“You better be here about the missing kids.” Zack said.

“What missing kids?” Gerard asked.

“Yesterday, seven of my kids up and vanished. Brendon, Dan, Ben, Ryan, Daniel, Ian, and Nicole. Sarah, Spencer, Jon, and Hayley don’t know where they were going and Wayne was out of the building. I don’t know where they were going but I think they ran away.” Zack said.

“Well, we arrested a man known as Andy Hurley, a friend of your kids. The Phoenix and an unknown assailant broke him out and kidnapped Peter Wentz III, and when we chased them down, we saw Dan, Daniel and Brendon all inside that building, and now my brother is missing.” Gerard said. “So at the moment we need the full names of the dans, and their files. We can assume the rest of your missing kids are working with them, so we’ll also need Ben’s file. We already have the others from their little operations.”

Zack seemed annoyed, but let them in. Sarah and who Gerard assumed was Wayne were standing in the living room. Sarah still had her collar, which likely meant however Brendon got his off, he didn’t share it with ehr or the others. 

“When we were in there, Dan was using illusions of the Spencer, Jon, and Sarah to trick us.” Frank said.

“Make you think there were more of them. Seems reasonable.” Zack said as he went to a cabinet.

“You don’t have many kids here.” Ray said.

“Most of them were orphaned in the riots, other than Daniel, lost his family in a car accident three years ago. Most orphans end up finding somewhere quickly, but my kids were the unlucky ones. I found Ryan, Brendon, Spencer, and Jon about four, five or six while the riots where happening all hiding in an alleyway crying. The apartment building they lived in had burned down, and they were some of the only survivors. That’s where I started.” Zack turned around to face them and gave them their files back. “Hardest part was when they all were developing their powers. It always is.”

“Thank you Mr Hall. They aren’t old enough to be incarcerated, so they’ll be sent back to you when we find them, but they’ll be collared and put on house arrest.” Ray said.

Zack nodded to say he understood.

“One more thing, watch the rest of your kids. Brendon will likely be back for the rest of his group.” Frank said. Zack nodded again. They then all left.

____________________________________________________________

Mikey woke up in what looked like a hotel room. Funny. He expected a jail cell. The hotel room was a prewar design, but everything seemed like it was brand new. Mikey got out of the bed and took his glasses off the nightstand, where they had very neatly been placed. He put them on, then went to the door. The door was surprisingly unlocked. When he opened it, Brendon was standing in front of it.

“Hi!” He said with a smirk. Mikey punched him in the face.

“Oww what was that for?!” Brendon asked as he regain his balance. Mikey took him completely by surprise.

“You’re an egotistical bitch with a very punchable face.” Mikey said.

“That’s fair..”

“So, where is this?” Mikey asked, crossing his arms.

“Hundred miles west of New Chicago. Call it the Weekes factory. You know, where they make all the clothes.” Brendon said. “Dallon Weekes, believe it or not, is actually one of the biggest supporters of the rebellion. He’s in cahoots with us, the Phoenix, and just about any other rebel you can think of. He also pays to keep Cloud open.” 

Mikey nodded, a bit surprised by this. The memories Ryan (forcibly) gave him didn’t mention this.

“So you know everything right?” Bendon asks.

Mikey did. He had been seeing memories through someone’s eyes, and they played out like this.

Whoever’s memories these were had been sitting in a room. A board room, he was in a meeting. He recognized the man at the board as Peter Wentz II, and the people around him were important employees of the company, minus one…

“And now that we have the Hallow District’s support, we can work on making the collars so we can collar all the level reds, and maybe even get rid of their powers. People will have nothing to fear after. But the problem is, when they no longer fear the level reds, they’ll fear the level oranges. Now there is a few oranges in this room, but that’s the beauty of it. We can leave our oranges untouched, but start taking the other oranges and collaring them. Then, we can move to the yellows. That will leave the harmless abilities and our oranges and yellows. Then, our government can start pushing more of those laws they’ve been wanting to pass with little to no resistance.” Wentz said as he seemed to be half way through that tangent.

“Mr Wentz, what about the oranges in the police force, or those detectives? They’re abilities are useful in their jobs!” One man asked.

“They will just have to find a new way to work. Leaving oranges outside of our own will be unfair, and we all know we want to keep it fair…”

The memory had then shifted to him texting someone, the ID on the text was a chat, including the names Benzedrine, Horseshoe and Donnie.

‘The Hollow district is on board with this plot.’ He texted. Donnie replied immediately. 

‘I’ve already got the kids on board, and we know where the representative will be tonight. I saw we go after him.’

‘I have to agree. This is our best shot.’ Benzedrine replied with.

‘Normal meeting spot?’ Horseshoe replied.

‘Meet you guys there.’ 

Then, there was S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W…

“Is S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W really what it looks like..?” Mikey asked. Brendon dropped his smile and looked serious now.

“Follow me.” 

Brendon lead Mikey to a set of rooms further down the hallway. There was a sign on the wall that said this was the ‘medical wing.’

Brendon showed him in. There was a man laying in a bed, staring up at the ceiling. He had brown hair, which looked like had been cut short because it was dyed, as the tips were still a shade of blue. His blue eyes looked distant, like he wasn’t actually seeing what was around him. A woman was sitting in a chair near him, just watching him.

“Nora, how is he?” Brendon asked.

“Nothing’s improved.” Nora said.

“We found him mindlessly wandering near the WPPCM building, he was one of the rebels who lived in the area. He only answers to Franklin now. We think the WPPCM got to him and his group and used them as test subjects for S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W. He’s the only one we’ve found, out of five of them. It seems it works, haven’t been able to get to use his abilities or tell us anything about his group, or even his actual name. We’re trying to find something to trigger his memories, but we might have to find his group.” Brendon said. “Hell he only does things with commands now, we think S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W is supposed to turn them into manual laborers.”

“Oh my god…” Mikey said.

“It’s horrible..” Brendon said, and there was a pause before he continued. “Anyway, Dallon wanted to see you, come with me.” 

____________________________________________________________

Gerard had set up a board to connect everything. He had a picture of the Cloud foster home, all the kids and Zack, to the right of that was Andy, Patrick and Peter with a picture of the Phoenix, and a paper with the words ‘accomplice?’. Ray and Frank had gone to arrest Patrick, and weren’t back yet.

And the middle of the board had Mikey’s picture with the words ‘Why kidnap him?’ They had obviously been waiting for them, but why Mikey, why not Ray, the actual police officer, or Gerard, the one with the more useful power if used wrongly. Frank knew a lot about the police, so he would likely be a first choice over Mikey.

He had just finished adding the band that Brendon said was always playing when the messenger came, as they might have some involvement, when Frank and Ray came in.

“Guys, I got a call from the WPCCM, Wentz is going to allow me to come investigate some things his son was working on before he was kidnapped. He thinks they might have something to do with why he was kidnapped. I go in two days, during the festival.” Gerard said to them, backing up to look at his board.

“Good, might get some evidence. Patrick was missing from work and his home was empty, he seemed to have taken everything like he was going on vacation. He might have been our partner of the Phoenix.” Ray said. “Leave town after breaking Andy out of jail, it’s the perfect plan.”

“Do we have anyone else who has been reported missing?” Gerard asks.

“I kept a tab open on all men in the age range with one of the Phoenix’s abilities, and I found something interesting.” Frank said, before pulling it up on the computer. “Our Patrick is one of those fliers, and the person they kidnapped, Peter Wentz III, has sonic scream on file. Now this wouldn’t be quite so weird since it’s just the two of them, and one’s a green level ability, if Patrick wasn’t dating one of our only known fire starters, Joseph Trohman, who, get this, never showed up for work today, and his roommate reported that he never came home, and he can’t pick him up on the phone. His motorcycle, along with the one owned by Andy Hurley, are both missing as well.”

“How is Peter apart of this? He was kidnapped.” Ray said.

“Unless he wasn’t. His father isn’t giving him the company, and has stated that his oldest doesn’t share his ideals. These four all went to the same high school. What better way to escape you father then having your friends ‘kidnap’ you?” Frank said.

“It, makes sense.” Gerard says.

“So, Joseph or Patrick were the Phoenix, but the Phoenix has been seen using all three abilities, how would that work? And that doesn’t explain the tattoos.” Ray asks.

“That’s the tricky part, I don’t know how they could do that.” Frank said before quickly (like very quickly) wrote everything down. 

“Wait..” Ray said, before going to the computer. “What if Andy isn’t powerless. Level blues often get written off as no powers because of their parents having no abilities or showing no abilities. There are a total of 25 that people may never learn they have, as they actually have to try to use them. And there’s one that I think may give the Phoenix the ability to do this. Power mimicry.”

Ray pulled up the file on the level blue abilities. Frank and Gerard both looked at them.

“Andy is the Phoenix.” Frank said. “And Joseph was our fake.”

“It would make sense, if he has the ability.” Ray said.

“Sometimes I think the files get a little deep into our personal lives..” Gerard said. The fact the file mentioned Patrick and Joe’s relationship, which wasn’t marriage. He knew his file probably had everything on his ex who disappeared a few years back. He never really bothered with love again after that.

“I agree..” Frank said. “Anyway, we have no idea where any of these people are at the moment. All collar tracking shows is that all the collars of our missing kids were dumped in that warehouse.” 

“What about the band, that one that Brendon said was playing during meetings? I saw that they were going to be playing at the festival you know, to get the people from lower districts to go to it.” Ray said.

“It would make sense, you two should go there, see if you can get any information, and go from there.” Gerard said. “It’s in two days.”

“Let’s just hope Mikey has two days…” Frank said.

____________________________________________________________

Brendon had taken Mikey down to what looked like had been some kind of meeting area in a fancy hotel. People were strewn about the room. Mikey noticed Nicole and Ian sitting at a table playing some pre war-card game, and, Andy was sitting with them. Of course he was. They were friends.. 

“Dallon should be around here somewhere…” Brendon said as he looked around. “There he is.”

Brendon pointed at a man sitting in a corner chair, asleep. Brendon lead Mikey over to him, then woke him up.

“Fuck Brendon what do you want..?” Dallon said, swiping his arm at Brendon.

“Our buddy from the station’s awake. You wanted to talk to him about the festival, remember?” Brendon said to Dallon. Dallon wiped his eyes and looked at Mikey.

“Oh right, you can go Brendon. Michael is it?” Dallon asked, sitting up.

“Mikey.” Mikey said, sitting down in a chair.

“Mikey, alright. I assume you’re already up to speed.” Dallon said. Mikey nodded to that. “Here’s the plan. We’re going to mind control just about the entire city."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things about to go dooooown!!!


	5. Famous Last Words

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ray and Frank go to the festival while Gerard goes to the WPCCM building, and things don't go so well...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is short, but I feel I got everything in

Ray and Frank were in the crowd at the festival. A band well known in the Hollow District was playing, and America’s Suitehearts was supposed to be next. The festival was being recorded on a bunch of cameras so everyone in New Chicago could watch. They did this every year. 

After the Hallow District band left to the backstage, a man came up to introduce America’s Suitehearts, and Frank quickly texted Gerard, who should have been heading to Wentz’s, that they were playing. 

When they came up, it was different than at the bar, there was a 5th member, one dressed like the lead singer but in grey, and he was holding the lead’s guitar.

The grey guitarist went up to the mic. He tapped it jokingly, then spoke into it.

“Now, most of you who have actually heard us don’t know me, but Dr Benzedrine’s having some trouble with his hands, so I’ll be doing his part. Now, I hope you all have fun..” His voice shifted to that all to familiar sing songy voice of Brendon... “And focus on the music.”

____________________________________________________________

Gerard exited the elevator at the WPCCM to Peter Wentz II, and two other people. A man and a woman, both with black hair cut short, and their eyes seemed, distant.

“Welcome to the WPCCM, Mr Way.” Wentz said with a smile. “You’re here about my son correct?” 

“Yes Mr Wentz, you said you possibly have a reason to why the Phoenix kidnapped him, correct?” Gerard asked. 

“Yes, William, Alexandria, please show Mr Way here to my son’s room.” Wentz said. “I will join you in a minute.” 

Wentz then left, and Alexandria and William lead Gerard to the bedroom. Gerard attempted to ask questions, but the two ignored this. Gerard found this weird. Gerard entered the bedroom after they got to it, and found that Pete’s cell phone was on the nightstand. Gerard picked it up and turned it on. Three messages were on screen, all being from 4 days ago.

Benzedrine: We have to turn this into a rescue mission

Benzedrine: Donnie’s been arrested.

Horseshoe: Donnie’s been caught Sandy.

Gerard heard the door open behind him.

“I found that in his closet. We don’t know who exactly these ‘Benzedrine and Horseshoe’ are, but we’re guessing Donnie is that Andy fellow who was broken out of jail.” Wentz said. “You’re known for cracking phones, if we get their numbers we can track them.”

“I don’t need to. We know who is working with Andy. Their names are Patrick Stump and Joseph Trohman, they are both missing, Stump had connections to Andy, and Trohman has evidence against him, especially his relationship with Stump and Andy, and your son.” Gerard said.

“Well, I might have something that can track them.” Wentz said. “Come.”

Wentz took Gerard to a lab like area, with a strange machine in the middle of the room, and a large computer.

“The computer can track anything, phones, computers, collars, anything. We’ve been using it to try and track Pete, but he seems to have left everything here.” Wentz said. “We may be able to find that brother of yours, and in turn, find my son and his kidnapper friends.” 

Gerard nodded, looking back at William, who had followed them into the room. Gerard then checked his phone for messages from Ray and Frank. He had one saying America’s Suitehearts was just about to play, but that had come almost an hour ago, when he had first arrived. He started texting them to ask how everything was going. 

“Strange..” Wentz said.

“What?” Gerard asked.

“I’m tracking the chip in his glasses..” Glasses had become completely holographic as prescription glasses where hard to make now. “And it says he should be in the building…” 

“Where in the building?” Gerard asked.

Wentz pressed a few buttons. 

“Right outside th-” Wentz started before suddenly the door was kicked down. 

In came the Phoenix, Brendon, Daniel, Nicole, Ben, Ryan, and Mikey.

“Mikey!” Gerard said.

“Get away from him!” Mikey yelled at Gerard.

“Mikey wh-” Gerard said before Brendon repeated what Mikey said, and Gerard was forced to walk away from Wentz.

“How did you get in?!?” Wentz yelled.

“We used the festival to force everyone to focus on the music, it’ll wear off when I want it to.” Brendon said. “Turns out your employees love watching the festival rather than working.” 

“Well you messed with the wrong man..” Wentz said before trushing a hand at Ben, and Ben suddenly disintegrated.

“Ben!” Daniel yelled as Nicole forced everything to begin floating, including themselves. The Phoenix flew at Wentz, only to get launched behind something and disintegrated as well.

“Stop!!” Brendon yelled. Wentz stopped, and Brendon yelled; “No one told us this was what he did!!” 

“He isn’t supposed to have powers..” Gerard said, holding on the the machine which he had been by.

“Surprise, I do.” Wentz said, before making Nicole disintegrate. Somehow Brendon hadn’t controlled him. “And you better give up before you join your friends!” 

Suddenly, the Phoenix came out from where he had been thrown, and he seemed disoriented.

“Y-You bastard!!” He said, and he sounded like.. Patrick? 

“You just don’t give in..” Wentz said, before disintegrating Brendon. The Phoenix jumped at him and Wentz hit him with that again, and the Phoenix kept coming, only seeming weaker, letting Wentz grab him by the face. Gerard was just paralyzed with fear. He didn’t know what to do. Suddenly guards busted in and grabbed Daniel, who was on the ground crying, Ryan, who had been trying to do, something, and Mikey, who yelled at Gerard to help him. 

“Let’s see who this invincible Phoenix is…” Wentz said before taking the mask off, but suddenly, the Phoenix split into two people. Gerard went to get a better look against his better judgement, and saw it was Andy and Pete.

“Y-You mother fucker…” Pete said as he tried to stand, but his father grabbed him by the neck.

“I always knew you were a horrible son. Good thing I never told you my ability.” Wentz said before throwing him down. “And fusion, that explains it. Whoever your friends were, you’ll never see them again. Guards, take them to the other S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W rooms, except that one.” 

Two guards not holding anyone took Andy and Pete, who fought and screamed, and along with the ones holding Ryan and Daniel, left the room.

“Y-you really are a monster!!” Gerard yelled at Wentz. 

“I guess I am, but your brother and friends will pay the price of you saying that.” Wentz then turned to Mikey, and as Gerard screamed for him not to do it, Mikey disintegrated, and the guard went for Gerard, and quickly sedated him with something off the table.

“Welcome to the S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W program…” Wentz said as he was thrown onto the chair of the machine, and the guard and Wentz tied him down. “Have fun forgetting everything. We’ll have fun putting all of those orphans and your police friends through it, and as many people as possible to make sure your brother and his little friends never existed.” 

And everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How much do you guys hate me? 10, 11, 100?


	6. Modern Day Cain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter about what happened to Ray, Frank and Gerard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is really short but I wanted to get this out

Frank woke up in a bed, in a hotel room, the same one Mikey had woken up in. Everything after “Focus on the music” was blank for him. What happened?

The door opened and Frank saw a woman.

“Where am I..? Frank asked as he sat up.

“Your in the Weekes factory.” The woman said. “After the events at the festival, the kids from Cloud were being hunted by Wentz’s goons, but you tried to save Sarah and Spencer, and they brought you here.” 

He remembered none of that, had he been out long?

“You’ve been out for almost two weeks, Nora was keeping you alive during that time.” A male voice said. He stepped out from behind the woman, and Frank recognized him as Wayne from Cloud.

“Is this where they took Mikey?” Frank asked, getting up.

“Yes” The woman said. “Wayne, go tell Dallon he’s awake.”

Wayne nodded and ran out of the room.

“Where is he?” Frank asked. He didn’t trust this woman, but he was also likely outnumbered, and trapped.

“We, we think he died in the assault against Wentz. Daniel barely escaped, and he said that Wentz killed Joe, Patrick, Brendon, Nicole, Ben, and Mikey, and that they took Ross, Gerard, Pete and Andy to be experiments in S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W. We figured they were going after your cop friend and tried to save him as well, but they had already gotten to him.” The woman said.

“Oh my god…” Frank said, putting his head down.

“We can still save Gerard and Ray, but I’m sorry for your loss..” The woman said.

Frank didn’t look back up at her for a while, but when he did, he saw her sad smile, she really did feel guilty… Maybe he could trust her.

“I’m Breezy, by the way. We got your name and your friends’ names from Sarah.” 

“I see..”

Wayne reappeared in the doorway.

“Dallon’s busy, but he wanted us to show him Franklin, let him know what S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W is.” Wayne says. “Then take him to Seaman.” 

“Okay, you can go.” Breezy said to Wayne, and Wayne walked off.

“Who’s Franklin?” Frank asked as Breezy started to walk out, prompting him to follow.

“He was one of our rebels on the inside, worked with his group as garbage collectors. They disappeared 3 months ago, around the time we got information about S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W, we found him a month ago.” Breezy said. “He’s gone by Tre most of his time working with us, but after he was brainwashed, he only answers to Franklin, and only follows simple commands, he’s just the shell of a man now.” Breezy explained before they came to a door. She opened it, and it was the same scene Mikey had seen, except now Nora was out of the room.

Frank went up to Tre, looking at his eyes, still distant, glazed.

“S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W did this to him?” Frank asked, turning back to Breezy.

“Yes, it’s horrible, and his groupmates are likely still in Wentz’s building.” Breezy said. “We’ve just about given up on him.”

“This is Wentz’s ultimate goal, why the people of the Fredrickson District hate him so much…” Frank muttered to himself. “To make people mindless zombies..”

“It seems t-” Breezy started before she was cut off, by Tre?

“Why are you here, you were supp-” Tre started before pausing as if to let someone speak. Breezy and Frank both looked at Tre.

“I’m stuck, I can’t.” Tre replied. His eyes had closed. “Who the hell is th- nevermind. Where the hell are the others?” 

“What’s go-” Frank started before Breezy shushed him.

“Why are you helping me first, I’m not in that damn- oh, wait, I get it now.” Tre said before going silent again.

“What was that?!” Frank asked.

“He’s never done that before…” Breezy said. “At least to my knowledge..” 

Suddenly Tre sat up, his eyes were no longer glazed over, and he looked at them, before getting up.

“Woah woah, Tre!” Breezy said before rushing to his side incase he fell over.

“I need to talk to Dallon.” Tre said, ignoring her attempts to keep him from falling, as he seemed to have fine balance.

“Tre, what the hell just-” 

“Who is that?” Tre asked, pointing at Frank.

“Frank Iero. Could you slow down?” Frank said.

“I need to talk to Dallon! I know how we can take this bitch down!” Tre said.

“Tre you’ve been bra-”

“I know I’ve been brainwashed! I just had that fixed!” Tre yelled at them. “What I need is to speak with your husband!!”

“He’s busy!” Breezy said. “Tre can you calm down? Explain what happened, everything that happened.”

“Billie had been using astral projection to infiltrate the building, they caught us while he was going it. I don’t think he ever made it back to his body before we were all brainwashed.

“So he’s stuck in the astral plane?” Breezy asked.

“With at least 3 others, I saw them when he was fixing me.” Tre said.

“Tre, a lot has happened since you and your group went dark, we’re going to have to brief you before you can talk with Seaman and Dallon about this.” Breezy told him.

“I get it, just brief me now.”

____________________________________________________________

Gerard was fine.

He was a level three worker at WPCCM, worked mostly with paperwork and orders. He had started working there when he left high school. He was an only child and his mother relied on him to pay for her hospital bills. She was really sick. His father had been dead for 2 years.

He had a friend, Ray, his only friend in the workplace. Not like he needed more. He did really like the coffee runner Ryan, but who was he to complain? He got him his coffee.

Gerard didn’t have powers, big thing about him. Ray could turn invisible, but only for a short amount of time. A lot of his coworkers were powerless or had really minor powers, so it didn’t matter. The higher ups were the only ones with powers higher than level green. 

But Gerard always believed something was wrong, like he was missing someone.

Who? He may never know. Maybe he was lonely, needed a girlfriend. Probably. He had vivid memories of having a girlfriend in high school, but never remembered her name.

Maybe he was missing her...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will involve Billie Joe and what's going on inside the WPCCM


End file.
